A few years ago-back when Becca was in elementary school—I took our family to hear her school’s annual Christmas music program. Becca had a solo so we grabbed the camcorder and the camera and headed out early in order to get the best seats for all camera angles. And-it was very well-done: great choreography, creative costumes and dance movements, a beautiful set-the kids sang flawless harmony. But in spite of all this, Sue and I commented afterwards that the musical had a sad “emptiness” about it. To me it was kind of like a sandwich with nothing between the bread…or…like chocolate cake without any chocolate in it. I say this because there was no real “flavor” to the music that night-no real depth of joy in the songs those children sang. It was empty.
The reason the musical made me feel this way was because, in order to be politically correct, the writer of that winter musical had purposefully left out any reference whatsoever to Jesus’ birth. The kids sang about snow and candy canes and chestnuts roasting on an open fire but not a single word about the Christ of CHRISTmas. I kept expecting at least one song lyric to pay homage to “God’s indescribable gift” to the human race but it never came-so for me the presentation that night was empty.
Now please understand. I don’t fault the music teacher-she is a devout Christian-and was only following the strict rules of the day-rules that seem to be based on a conscious effort by our culture to avoid any reference to the true purpose of this holiday. You know, when I was a kid, Christ often got lost amid all the hustle and bustle of the season. But these days He’s not lost accidentally-He’s avoided…He’s ignored…INTENTIONALLY!
And even those of us who don’t have school age children know this to be true. I mean, I remember when every time you made a purchase in December, you would wish the clerk a “Merry Christmas!” But these days, there is a subtle but strong understanding that doing this is no longer acceptable-because you might offend someone if you were to allude to the birth of the Christ. And-I’ll admit-at this time of the year, I’m offensive-because I genuinely wish everyone I see a “Merry Christmas!”
Well, to help us here at Redland counter this negative influence-to aid us as we seek to be IN the world but not OF the world-I have felt led to devote the next three sermons to FOCUSING our attention on the CHRIST of CHRISTmas. This year I want us to be sure that at Redland we turn our hearts and heads toward Jesus so that in the midst of this increasingly secular time we can remember the Reason behind this season. Here’s a quick preview:
< On December 22, we'll look at JESUS' FAMILY TREE.
I want us to see what we can learn from those texts in Luke and Matthew that contain the long lists of Jesus’ relatives-texts that we usually skip over in our study of the New Testament. I think we’ll discover that there is a great deal of powerful spiritual truth in those genealogies!
< On December 15 we'll look at JESUS' BIRTH to help us remember exactly why His is a birth that is different from that of any other child born on this planet.
< And today I want us to begin all this by looking at JESUS' NAME.
Now, one of the first decisions parents make when their child is born of course, is CHOOSING a name. I remember how Sue and I agonized over each of our children’s names for months. We wanted to pick the perfect names for each of our kids. And most parents do this. They work very hard at choosing names for their kids because they know how important a NAME can be-for it is a “designation” that you’re pretty much stuck with all your life!
And unfortunately for one reason or other many of us don’t like the fruit of our parents’ labors. When I was a kid I hated my middle name, “Adrian” because I thought it sounded effeminate. You remember that missionary Paul Phan told us last week how he changed his name from “Hai” to “Paul” because other kids were constantly teasing him by saying, “Hi Hai!”
We chuckle but naming a child really is no laughing matter. In fact, one psychologist studied the names of 15,000 juvenile delinquents and he discovered that those with odd or embarrassing names were in trouble four times as much as kids who had more traditional-accepted names. So choosing a name is indeed a very important task.
Some parents pick a name from long lists of names in a baby name book. Others name their kids after a relative. Some PICK the popular names of the day. Others try to AVOID the popular names of the day. And still other moms and dads select their children’s names in some pretty ODD ways. I read a true story this week about a couple whose little girl was named “Phemalley.” Someone asked them how they came to choose such an unusual name and the mother said, “Oh, we didn’t name her. The nurses at the hospital did. When they brought her to me the first time, her name was on a little wrist band- ‘PHEMALLEY JONES.’ We decided we liked the name and we kept it.” The person then asked, “So how do you spell Phemalley?” The mother said, “Just like it sounds, F – E – M – A – L – E-FEMALE!”
Well, in biblical times a great deal of significance was given to people’s names. Many times when someone’s name is mentioned in the Bible, the writer will say what the name means, or use the meaning of the name in a sentence that describes why that name was given. For example, Genesis 4:25 says that, “Eve gave birth to a son and named him SETH, saying, ‘God has granted me another child in place of Abel.” (Genesis 4:25) And the word “Seth” means “granted.” When Pharaoh’s daughter took a three-month-old baby from a basket floating among the reeds of the Nile, she named him “Moses” which in Hebrew meant, “drawn out.” And that’s what he was….DRAWN OUT…PULLED OUT…of the Nile river.
Many times in the Bible children lived up to the meaning of their names. For example: when Rebekah gave birth to twins, one was hairy, and the other came out of the womb grasping his brother’s heel. So she named the first one “Esau” which means, “hairy” and the second “Jacob” which means, “he grabs the heel.” And those names were very accurate in predicting the kind of men they became. The Bible records that Esau turned out to be a “bear” of a man-a hunter-a woodsman. I think he probably had to shave twice a day! And his brother became a grabber-remember how he conspired to successfully grab Esau’s birthright? We see this “naming” principle in the New Testament as well when Jesus told Simon that He was changing his name to PETER, which means, “rock” and that is what Peter became-someone with a rocklike faith in Jesus.
Well I think it is interesting to note that when time became full-when the time was finally right for God to clothe His Son in human flesh, He did not leave the naming up to Joseph and Mary. No, He exercised His privilege as a parent and named His Son. He even sent an angel to make sure Mary and Joseph gave Him the name He had selected. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 1:18-25 and let’s read together one of the texts that tells us how the Christ of Christmas received the name…JESUS:
18 – This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through th Holy Spirit.
19 – Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 – But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 – She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name JESUS, because He will save His people from their sins.”
22 – All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 – “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.”
24 – When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
25 – But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a Son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.
So, according to Scripture, by special instruction of God Himself it came to pass in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago that while the stars were shining and the angels were singing and the wise men were traveling, when someone asked, “What is the name of that babe in the manger?” Mary and Joseph responded, “His name is JESUS.”
Okay, what can we say about the name that God chose for His Son?
1. Well, first of all we should note that it is an ESTEEMED name.
Bernard of Clarivoux once wrote,
“No voice can sing, nor heart can frame, nor can the memory find;
A sweeter sound than Thy blest name, O Savior of mankind.”
And Bernard was expressing the opinion of billions-for we all love the name-JESUS. Did you know that in the Gospels, the Christ is called by that particular name over 500 times? In fact, according to the concordance in my palm pilot, in the New Testament the word, “JESUS” appears 909 times. To me this says that, of all the names and of all the titles that are given to the Christ, the one most loved by His followers is that simple name, “Jesus.”
And Scripture isn’t the only place that we find this name to be highly esteemed. If we were to glance through our HYMN BOOK, we would discover that over the centuries the hymn writers seem to prefer this name as well-for they have memorialized it in numerous hymns-songs like, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds” and, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” and “There Is A Name I Love to Hear” and “Jesus is the Sweetest Name I Know.”
In my days as a minister of music we used to play a game at adult choir socials in which we divided up into teams of four or five singers and each team was given fifteen minutes to come up with as many songs as they could on a specific theme. The teams would then take turns singing a song and if your team picked the one that another team sang you’d have to cross it off your list and sing another song on the theme and this would continue with each team taking a turn until only one team was left with unclaimed songs-and that team would win. It was a lot of fun.
Well, if we were to do that as a congregation today-if we were to divide up into teams and list all the songs we could think of that have to do with the name of Jesus, well, we’d go on and on and on, because there are thousands of hymns and choruses based on this particular name of our Lord!
And the reason this is so is because we love this name that God chose for His Son. In fact, sing with me,
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus….there’s just something about that name.
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus….let all heaven and earth proclaim!
Kings and Kingdoms shall all pass away,
But there’s something about that name!”
This leads to the second thing I want to point out about this particular name of our Lord…
2. …It is an EASY name.
I mean it’s not hard to pronounce or spell. It’s easy to say and remember. It’s only got two syllables-just five letters-spelled just like it sounds. It’s an EASY name. By the way, did you know there was a man in the Bible named Tiglath Pelezer Adonibezek? Aren’t you glad God didn’t call His Son something like that? I mean, can you imagine the worship choruses and hymns we would write around a difficult name like that? “Oh how I love Tiglath Pelezer Adonibezek…Oh how I love Tiglath Pelezer Adonibezek….” It doesn’t work does it!? But the name JESUS…the simple name JESUS does!
It is so easy that it is pronounced almost the same way in pretty much any language. I mean you can travel the world and listen to people talk in their native tongues-and not know what they are saying until they say, “JESUS” and then you could say,
“Hey-I know Who you’re talking about! I know JESUS!”
Perhaps because of its simplicity this name has become a universal symbol of the love of God for His people.
And it is simple enough for even a small child to learn. How many of you have ever taught a children’s SS class and seen how-even early on in life-they easily they answer questions about Jesus? You would ask, “Who healed the sick?” And they would say, “JESUS” “Who fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes?” “JESUS” “Who loved you so much that He died for you on the cross?” “JESUS”
You know, I think it is very significant that God chose an easy name for His Son. Perhaps He did this to help us understand that we no longer have to get to Him through obedience to a difficult, complicated set of laws. No-now it is simply through faith in JESUS.
In fact, I for one believe that all someone has to say in order to have eternal life when they die is, “Jesus save me!” Think about it Christian. Those three words imply that only Jesus can save a person and that the person sees their sin-their need to be saved! AND THAT’S ALL IT TAKES! How many thousands of times that must have happened-as people knew their life was about to end-someone was drowning or they saw a car coming across the center line right toward them or as the World Trade Center towers were collapsing around them. Over the years how many tens of thousands of times have people cried out at the very end in times just like these, “Jesus! Jesus, save me!” And when they did-HE did! That simple name was the key to where they are now spending eternity for as Acts 2:21 says, “Everyone who calls on the NAME of the Lord will be saved.”
So JESUS is an esteemed name…an easy name…
3. …and it is also an ENDURING name.
Do you realize that even though our Lord was born in obscurity over 2,000 years ago and died like a criminal at the age of 33-even though He only ministered three years-and even though that ministry was in a relatively secluded part of this planet-in spite of all this His name is still the most well known name in history? The great libraries of the world have entire walls filled with books written about Jesus. Jesus’ face and name have been on the cover of LIFE and TIME and NEWSWEEK and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC more than any other person. Whenever public-opinion polls are taken asking, “Who is the most admired man in history?” Jesus of Nazareth has no trouble vastly outdistancing anyone else every time.
Emperors have tried to destroy His name. Philosophies have tried to stamp it out. Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claimed it, yet the name of JESUS still stands! Napoleon once said, “I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel…nations pass away, thrones crumble, but the Church [of Jesus] remains.”
It is an ENDURING name!
And as Paul says in Philippians 2 the name of Jesus will endure until the end of time and beyond. For there shall be that final day, when every tongue that has ever uttered a sound, every single voice of Adam’s race shall raise in one great mighty chorus to proclaim the NAME OF JESUS.
4. And then, the name of JESUS is also a DESCRIPTIVE name.
You see “Jesus” literally means, “The Lord saves.” And that is indeed a PERFECT description of Jesus because that baby came into this world on the first Christmas night, for the express purpose of saving us from our sins. He was born to die on the cross in our place. 1 Timothy 1:15 says, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
This is important to note-because as people who are sinners both by birth and by choice-we all NEED saving. As it says in Romans 3, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…and the wages of sin is death.”
Now, you might disagree with this verse. You may think this doesn’t apply to you because in your humble opinion you are a pretty good person-and you think you don’t need saving. But this would be a huge mistake because, as God’s Word repeatedly says all people-even GOOD people-are sinful and lost without Jesus. Without Him all of us face a life empty of purpose-and a death without hope.
Think of it this way. There are some people who drive like maniacs, and have no business being on the road. They drive when they’ve been drinking. They drive while they are on the phone. They drive while they’re putting on lipstick. They drive while they discipline their kids in the back seat. They drive while they fish through the glove compartment for a CD. They drive while they read a map. They drive without insurance, and so on. And then there are other people who approach the task of driving more responsibly. They don’t speed or let themselves become distracted when they’re behind the wheel. They don’t have to panic when they see a cop and immediately slam on the brakes so he doesn’t catch them speeding. This is because they’re basically good drivers and if you fall into this category I applaud you.
But let’s imagine for a moment that the only way you could renew your driver’s license was to have an absolutely PERFECT, completely spotless, driving history. I don’t’ mean you have never been CAUGHT exceeding the speed limit or for failure to use your blinker when you changed lanes…but rather that you had NEVER done that-not even once. Imagine that when you went to the Department of Motor Vehicles they had an all-knowing computer that could read your mind and determine with absolute accuracy whether or not you had ever made an illegal U-turn, or had ever cut someone off in traffic, or had ever floated through a stop sign or ever driven even a fraction of a mile above the speed limit or ever used the HOV lane during rush hour while driving alone in your car or ever broken any other driving rule.
If that computer existed, and those were the conditions, how confident would you feel in your ability to renew your licence? Would anyone here make it? I mean any one but me?
NO-of course not. None of us would because the truth is none of us are perfect drivers! Well that’s the way it is with sin. Even if you’re not a blatant sinner, you’re still not good enough to meet God’s standard of perfect holilness. We ARE all sinners, separated from our loving but Holy God, so what we needed most that first Christmas was Someone to be born Who would save us…Someone to take the penalty for our sins on Himself and in so doing bridge the gap between us and God-between sinful humanity and holy divinity.
Specifically-we needed a SINLESS Savior-Someone Who would be able to die for our sins because He didn’t face a penalty for His own. And that’s what God sent us that first Christmas. I read a Christmas card a few years ago that said:
“If our greatest need was for information, God would have sent an educator.
If out greatest need was for technology, God would have sent a scientist.
If our greatest need was for pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer.
If our greatest need was for money, God would have sent an economist.
But since our greatest need is for forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.”
Jesus is a descriptive name.
5. And then the name of Jesus is an EXCLUSIVE name.
Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” And as Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.”
Well, Jesus IS the ONLY way to God-because Jesus is the ONLY Son of God and because He is the ONLY sinless man Who ever lived. That is the TRUTH and the TRUTH is TRUTH by it’s very nature is exclusive. I mean if 2 plus 2 is 4 the total cannot at the same time be 23. Now of course we must be tolerant of people who believe differently than we do. People do have a God-given right to reject the salvation He offers through His Son. But the truth is JESUS is the only One capable of paying the price for our sins. Theologian R. C. Sproul puts it this way, “Moses could mediate on the law, Mohammed could brandish a sword, Buddha could give personal counsel, Confucius could offer wise sayings. But none of these men was qualified to offer an atonement for the sins of the world.”
Now these days when we say that Jesus is the ONLY way to God-we are accused of being narrow-minded or snobbish. Rabbi Schmuley Boteach reflected this attitude when he said,
“I am absolutely against any religion that says that one faith is superior to another. I don’t see how that is anything different than spiritual racism. It’s a way of saying that we are closer to God than you, and that’s what leads to hatred.”
Well, people like Rabbi Boteach embrace this opinion because they believe that all religions are basically the same. But this of course is NOT true. There are several MAJOR irreconcilable differences between Christianity and the muslim faith or the mormon faith or the buddhist faith-or any other faith. But the MAIN difference is that-unlike any other religion-Christianity proclaims a gospel of GRACE and not works. Every other religion on this planet is based on people DOING something. Adherents struggle to somehow EARN the favor of their God. Some faiths teach that people have to use a Tibetan prayer wheel, or they have to go on pilgrimages, or they have to give alms to the poor, or they have to avoid eating certain foods, or they have to perform a certain number of unspecified good deeds, or they have to pray at a certain time in a certain position each day, or they have to go through a cycle of reincarnations, or they have to die a martyr’s death by killing anyone who doesn’t adhere to their faith. OR WHATEVER.
You see, other religious systems are essentially DO-IT-YOURSELF propositions. They say follow this way of life, and you stand a pretty good chance of gaining favor with God and eventually achieving salvation. These other faiths are attempts by people to reach UP to God.
But Christianity alone teaches that, in Jesus Christ, God is reaching DOWN to us. The Bible says that God’s gift of salvation through Jesus was GOD-given, GOD-driven, GOD-empowered, and GOD-originated. Salvation does not come from man to God through our efforts. No! It is from God to man. 1 John 4:10 says, “It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us in sending His Son to be THE WAY to take away our sins.”
But, as I said, these days people don’t like hearing this. The UNITY of all the world religions seems like such a worthy goal that those of us who oppose it are perceived as intolerant, bigoted, and piously holier than thou. But nothing can be farther from the truth.
Lee Strobel illustrates this fact by comparing Biblical Christianity to the other religions of the world by pretending that there are two country clubs. The first country club only admits people who have EARNED their membership. In order to get into this country club, you have to obtain superior wisdom. You’ve got to fulfill a long list of demands. You’ve got to advance spiritually in some way. You’ve got to go through cycles of reincarnation. And despite their best efforts, lots of people just do not make the grade. In the end, the door is going to be slammed in their faces. They are not going to be good enough. They are not going to make the qualifications to get into this country club. This is what other religions are saying because all faiths other than Biblical Christianity teach that people have to work their way to God.
But Christianity is different. Christianity is like a SECOND country club that says anybody who wants in is invited, because Jesus has already paid for their membership. Rich or poor, red, yellow, black, or white, regardless of your ethnic heritage, regardless of where you live, the doors are wide open. Entry is not based on your qualifications. It is only based on your admitting your sin and accepting Jesus’ invitation. This is Christianity.
Now let me ask you, WHICH FAITH SYSTEM IS SNOBBISH? Certainly not Christianity! We know we are not better than anyone else. We know we could never be good enough to deserve God’s gift of eternal life. Our own experience with God’s grace has taught us that we have no right to be pious or holier-than-thou. Mature Christians-people who are truly close to God-agree with the prophet Isaiah who said that, “…our best efforts at righteousness-our ‘good-work attempts to earn God’s favor’-are as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 54:6)
So, the NAME of Jesus…is an esteemed name…an easy name…an enduring name…a descriptive name…an exclusive name. And as any growing Christian will tell you, it is also a POWERFUL name. As the words to the old poem say,
“I know a soul that is steeped in sin, that no man’s art can cure.
But I know a name, a name, a name, that can make the soul all pure.
I know a life that’s lost to God, bound down by the things of the earth,
But I know a name, a name, a name, that can bring that soul new birth.”
This morning, if you are here and are not a Christian then I challenge you to call on the name of Jesus right now. Pray that simple three word prayer I mentioned earlier and ask Him to save you-for in that request you will experience personally the POWER of the name of JESUS. And if you do pray that prayer please come and tell me-nothing would make my Christmas merrier!
If you are a Christian and have a public decision to make such as joining our church or rededicating your life to Jesus, I invite you to come also-right now as we stand and sing.